US forces detain six linked to helicopter’s downing

BAGHDAD - The US military has detained six Iraqi men in connection with the shooting down of a commercial helicopter this week in which 11 people were killed, including six Americans.

The arrests were made following tip offs from Iraqi civilians who led US forces to where the suspected attackers lived. It was not known where the men were seized.

"The Iraqi citizen told the soldiers he knew where the blue pickup truck the terrorists used during the attack was parked and led them to the site," the US military's 3rd Infantry Division said in a statement.

"When the soldiers got there, several other local residents confirmed the first tip and showed the soldiers where the terrorists lived."

Three men and bomb-making material were found in one house, and three others who in the process of making bombs were found in a second house, the military said. All six were detained for questioning.

The Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter was shot down on Thursday as it traveled across a deserted region north of Baghdad.

Video tapes released by an insurgent group to an Arabic-language satellite channel show the helicopter was shot down by some sort of rocket.

It was the first civilian aircraft to be shot down in Iraq.

The three-man Bulgarian crew of the Bulgarian-owned helicopter were all killed, as were six American private security contractors and two Fijian guards.

Video footage shown by Al Jazeera television shows that one of the Bulgarian crew may have survived the initial crash, only to be shot dead by militants scouring the wreckage.

- REUTERS